China fights back in the chip war

Welcome back to What’s Next in Tech. In this edition, find out about China’s attempt to fight back in the ongoing chip war. Then, discover why a Micron, a memory chip giant, plans to spend billions of dollars building chip fabs near Syracuse, New York… and what the move suggests about the state of US manufacturing. Plus, learn how Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, thinks AI will transform how science gets done.

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China just fought back in the semiconductor exports war. Here’s what you need to know.

China has been on the receiving end of semiconductor export restrictions for years. Now, it’s striking back with the same tactic.?

On July 3, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that the export of gallium and germanium, two elements used in producing chips, solar panels, and fiber optics, will soon be heavily restricted. Exports of the materials will need to be approved by the government, and Western companies that rely on them could have a hard time securing a supply.?

Even though the news immediately sent the price of gallium and germanium up, the curbs are not likely to hit the US as hard as American export restrictions have hit China. This is why.

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The $100 billion bet that a postindustrial US city can reinvent itself as a high-tech hub?

A chip giant is making a bet on Syracuse. A multi-billion dollar bet.

Syracuse was once a manufacturing hub, but it's now one of the poorest in the US. The city has the highest child poverty rate among large US cities and the second-highest rate of families living on less than $10,000 a year.???

Now, a massive influx of cash—$100 billion to be exact—from the memory chip manufacturer Micron has the potential to transform Syracuse’s economy. Micron intends to build four chip fabs a few miles north of the city, potentially turning the area into a high-tech hub.

The project’s success or failure will be an important indicator of whether the US can leverage investments in high tech to reverse years of soaring geographic inequality and all the social and political unrest that it has brewed. Read the story.

This is how AI will transform how science gets done

With the advent of AI, science is about to become much more exciting — and in some ways unrecognizable. The reverberations of this shift will be felt far outside the lab and will affect us all, argues Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google.

If we play our cards right with sensible regulation and proper support for innovative uses of AI to address science’s most pressing issues, AI can rewrite the scientific process.

We can build a future where AI-powered tools will both save us from mindless and time-consuming labor—and also propose creative inventions and discoveries, encouraging breakthroughs that would otherwise take decades. Read Schmidt’s story.

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Images: Wladimir Bulgar/Science Photo Library via Getty; Kate Warren; Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library